Labrador tea is a common name for three closely related plant species in the genus Rhododendron as well as a herbal tea made from their leaves. All three species are primarily wetland plants in the heath family. Labrador tea has been a favorite beverage for a long time among the Dene and Inuit peoples.
Description
All three species used to make Labrador tea are low, slow-growing shrubs with evergreen leaves:
- Rhododendron tomentosum (northern Labrador tea, previously Ledum palustre),
- Rhododendron groenlandicum, (bog Labrador tea, previously Ledum groenlandicum or Ledum latifolium) and
- Rhododendron neoglandulosum, (western Labrador tea, or trapper's tea, previously Ledum glandulosum or Ledum columbianum).
The leaves are smooth on top with often wrinkled edges, and fuzzy white to red-brown underneath, and point straight to the sides or downward.
R. tomentosum, R. groenlandicum, and R. neoglandulosum can be found in wetlands and peat bogs.
Uses
The Athabaskans and other indigenous peoples brew the leaves as a beverage. The Pomo, Kashaya, Tolowa and Yurok of Northern California boil the leaves of western Labrador tea similarly, to make a medicinal herbal tea to help with coughs and colds. Botanical extracts from the leaves have been used to create natural skin care products by companies in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. Others use Labrador tea to spice meat by boiling the leaves and branches in water and then soaking the meat in the decoction.
During the eighteenth century, German brewers used R. tomentosum while brewing beer to make it more intoxicating, but it became forbidden because it was thought to led to increased aggression.
Toxicology
There is no sufficient data that demonstrates Labrador tea is safe to consume, as toxicity varies across species and localities. Excessive consumption is not recommended due to diuresis, vomiting, dizziness, and drowsiness. Large doses can lead to cramps, convulsions, paralysis, and, in rare cases, death.
Toxicity occurs due to the terpenoid ledol which is found in all Labrador tea species. R. groenlandicum has the lowest toxicity due to lower levels of ledol. Moderately narcotic Grayanotoxins are also present, but few lethal human cases of poisoning solely due to grayanotoxins have been documented. However, lethal poisonings have been documented in livestock.
Harvesting
Tea leaves are collected from multiple plants in the spring. Labrador tea is slow-growing, so only a single new leaf is collected from a plant every other year, to avoid damaging individual plants.
See also
References
- ^ Dampc, A.; M. Luczkiewicz (2015). "Labrador tea – the aromatic beverage and spice: a review of origin, processing and safety". Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 95 (8): 1577–83. Bibcode:2015JSFA...95.1577D. doi:10.1002/jsfa.6889. PMID 25156477.
- Native American Ethnobotany Database for Ledum glandulosum
| Herbal teas or tisanes | |
|---|---|
| Types of tea | |
| Korean tea | |